For over forty years, Osprey Publishing has been producing highly respected and highly illustrated books on all facets of military history. From ancient Egyptian warriors, through Medieval knights, to today’s special forces, there are few topics that Osprey Publishing hasn’t covered, and these books have become a go-to resource for role-players, wargamers, and historians alike. Now, with the launch of the Osprey Adventures imprint, Osprey is stepping outside the bounds of pure history with its newest series: Myths and Legends.

Traditionally, books covering myths and legends have tended to fall into two categories: children’s books, where the stories have been re-written, simplified, and censored, and heavy academic works that suck all of the fun out of the stories with a dry, critical analysis. If readers are really interested, it is possible to find the original sources for some of these stories, but these are often fragmented, confusing, and more than a little bit dull for a modern audience.

The new Myths and Legends series seeks to recapture the joy and fascination that we all felt as children when we first discovered these great stories, but also to present them for an older, more discerning audience. Each book in the series includes both a retelling of the classic myth or legend in a straightforward, but exciting, narrative style, and an analysis of the story, explaining its place in history, its development and modification over time and its enduring legacy.

Of course, all of this information is backed by loads of illustrations, both newly commissioned artwork plates from Osprey’s ever expanding stable of artists, but also the classical and traditional artworks that have helped keep many of these stories alive over the centuries.

As one might expect, there has been huge debate over which topics to cover in the series and, more importantly, which to do first. To date, we have scheduled the first eight books in the series, and I can reveal them here for the first time:

We are currently planning on another four titles in 2014, but the debate rages on as to what those should be – if you’d like to share your opinion, feel free to get in touch.

I think the most enjoyable part of developing this series has been working with the authors and artists. The authors I have commissioned come from all walks of life, and really demonstrate the wide-ranging appeal of these myths and legends. The authors of Jason and the Argonauts and The Fall of Troy both hold PhDs in history, though one works in a university while the other is better known for his articles in wargaming magazines. Many will recognize Graeme Davis, who is writing Thor, for his numerous contributions to Steve Jackson Games’ GURPS line, including writing GURPS Vikings. A few months ago, I was very excited to commission Fred Van Lente to write Hercules. For those who don’t know, Fred is a renowned comic book author, and has penned many series, including a critically acclaimed run on Marvel Comics’ The Incredible Hercules. I even managed to get into the action myself, writing Dragonslayers, my fourth book for Osprey Publishing, alongside Zombies: A Hunter’s Guide, one of the forerunners of the Osprey Adventures imprint.

The variety of authors is also reflective of the diverse nature of myths and legends, and a constant reminder to myself that each topic needs to be examined individually and presented in the way that best suits that particular story. For example, the legend of Jason and the Argonauts is one long narrative, populated by a huge cast of characters. Consequently, that book spends most of the time retelling the tale of Jason by drawing together all of the ancient sources to present the story in a coherent and entertaining fashion. King Arthur, on the other hand, demanded a very different approach. Because the story of Arthur has several strands, the book has been divided into three main sections, one covering the Medieval, chivalric Arthur, another covering the more ancient Celtic Arthur, and a third section devoted to the historical Arthur. Dragonslayers is different again. As this book covers a class of myth and legend, it is more of a survey, ranging throughout history, telling the stories and examining the different heroes who have fought dragons, whether they are ancient Greeks, Germanic warriors, or Native Americans.

For me, the work on Myths and Legends really started to get exciting when the first of the artwork arrived. It was a painting of Jason and Medea in the sacred grove of the Golden Fleece, and it literally caused my jaw to drop. The artist, José Daniel Cabrera Peña, had only done one previous piece of artwork for Osprey, but I had an idea that his style would perfectly suit the myths of Ancient Greece. Thankfully, I was right. Since then, he has wowed me again and again, with his paintings of the harpies, the earthborn men, and, especially, Talos, the bronze giant. I will certainly be asking for his services again, and I am hoping to get him to work on The Fall of Troy.

As with the authors, the artists also come from diverse backgrounds. Some of them have worked with Osprey before, such as Peter Dennis. Peter is very well known among gaming circles for his historical artwork, but he has proved that he can handle a bit of fantasy as well. His work on Dragonslayers has brought new life to some old legends, and I have no doubt that his paintings will influence the way many people think about St. George, Sigurd, Beowulf and the Lambton Worm for years to come.

Perhaps the hardest illustration task was given to Mark Stacey, who painted the color plates for The War of Horus and Set. Not only did he have to tackle an ancient Egyptian topic, well represented by surviving images, he had to paint realistic depictions of gods with animal heads. This is hard enough when painting Horus with his falcon head, but imagine the difficulty of presenting Set as a serious threat with his (possibly) aardvark head! Well, he did it.

While it is great to work with some of Osprey’s skilful historical artists, one of the real pleasures of my job has been going out and finding new talent to commission. While considering who to hire to paint the artwork for King Arthur, I came across an amazingly moody piece of Arthur and Merlin on the deviantART website. After a round of emails, I was convinced that the artist, Alan Lathwell, was the right man for the job. He is still working on the paintings, but his painting of Celtic Arthur and his men fighting the giant boar, Twrch Trwyth, is something that will warm the hearts of all myth and fantasy fans.

Another deviantART find came in the form of Miguel Coimbra. Miguel has done a lot of work in board game illustration, and his work on myth-based games got me thinking he could handle illustrating Thor: The Viking God of Thunder. His recently turned-in painting of Thor and the frost giants has quickly become an office favourite.

As the new artwork has come in, I’ve printed them out and tacked them up on the wall behind my desk. Even in an office where beautiful artwork arrives on a regular basis, people are stopping by my desk all the time to stare at the wall behind me. It’s a bit disconcerting.

So, with the months ticking down, and the launch of the series fast approaching, I’m getting the last tweaks done on the first two titles in order to send them off for printing. With a new series, and a new topic, I thought it was important to give the series its own identity. While these books maintain the classic shape of other Osprey series books, they are thicker than most, clocking in at eighty pages, and feature a full-color interior, that accentuates the mythic nature of the topics, yet maintains Osprey’s neat, easy-to-read layout.

This is just the beginning for both Myths and Legends and the wider Osprey Adventures imprint, and I hope to be able to share more with you in the future. In the meantime, if you have any ideas, comments, submissions or suggestions, please feel free to drop me an email at joseph.mccullough@ospreypublishing.com.